Monsoons: two buses swept away in the Himalayas, water surges at the Three Gorges dam
In Nepal, dozens of people are missing after their buses were swept into a river due to landslides caused by torrential rains. In China, concern is mounting about the Yangtze. Six fatalities have been reported in Chongqing, but record levels in the Three Gorges reservoir have raised the alert. Hundreds of thousands of people were displaced by the structure’s construction.
Kathmandu (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Torrential rains continue to devastate large parts of Asia with unprecedented violence this monsoon season.
In Nepal dozens of people are missing after landslides swept away two buses loaded with passengers into the Trishuli River.
In China at least six people died in floods in Chongqing while rising water level at the Three Gorges reservoir, one of the largest in the world, is raising concern.
The most serious reports come from Nepal, high in the Himalaya, where two buses loaded with passengers disappeared in the Trishuli River at 3.30 am following a landslide in the Simaltal area, along the Narayanghat-Mugling road section in Chitwan district.
According to authorities, one of the two buses, operated by the Ganapati Deluxe company, was headed to Gaur Rautahat from Kathmandu with about 41 passengers. The other, operated by Angel Deluxe, travelling to Kathmandu from Birgunj, had about 24 passengers.
Three passengers reportedly survived by jumping from one of the buses before it was dragged away by the current; meanwhile, rescue teams continue the search for the others.
Nepal has been grappling with monsoon-related disasters for days. In the Kaski district alone, 11 people died in multiple landslides last night.
Even before this morning's disaster, police statistics reported 103 fatalities nationwide from landslides and floods.
In China, the Yangtze (or Long) River, in the southwestern part of the country, is causing the most serious concerns.
Six people died yesterday due to heavy rains in Chongqing, a sprawling metropolis in Dianjiang county. A record level 269.2 mm fell in a single day, affecting more than 40,000 people.
Once again, the gigantic Three Gorges Dam in Hunan province is also a source of great concern, as water level reached 161.1 metres, the highest ever recorded in July since the facility became fully operational in 2012.
The huge structure is more than 180 metres high and more than two km wide, with 39.3 billion cubic metres of water generating electricity equivalent to 20 nuclear power plants.
It took 18 years to build, but Chinese authorities were eager to build the dam despite the controversy over its environmental impact and the forced displacement of 1.3 million people.
The Changjiang Water Resource Commission, a department that specialises in Yangtze River flood prevention and water pollution, is forecasting heavy rainfall along the upper reaches of the river in the next 10 days, and a new round of floods flowing into the Three Gorges Dam reservoir around 16 July.
According to reports from the state broadcaster CCTV, the commission has decided to increase the reservoir’s outflow, which could make the situation in the lower part of the Yangtze even more serious.
Photo: Flickr / Pedro Vásquez Colmenares
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22/08/2020 12:09
